Kirobo is adorable. Often the Japanese robots have these cute bodies on them, especially if they are designed to interact with children. I think the comparison with Atlas is a bit unfair. Atlas is a motion design and testing platform. I'm willing to bet Kirobo wasn't anywhere near as cute when he was being designed in the lab and didnt' have his shell in place.

If you want to see a scary finished robot check out KURATAS (also a japanese bot)